Requesting and Completing a SNAP Processing Action

When assigned to the Processing Queue, you will request and complete any outstanding actions associated with an active, pending or closed case.

If you are unable to complete any actions that have been assigned to you because you are leaving for the day, do not dismiss the untouched actions. The assigned actions will remain on your Action list overnight for you to complete by you on the following day. If the Action remains in an Assigned, In-Progress or Held status overnight on day two, it will be returned to the Action pool.

Note: The DTA Assistance Line places automatic outbound calls to clients at their scheduled interview time using the phone number in the case. You must confirm the best number to reach the client at every client interaction to ensure that the client receives important calls from the Department. 

Processing Actions for Non-English Speaking Clients

BEACON will attempt to language-match processing actions to approved bilingual case managers, while maintaining the established overall action priorities. All processing pools and action types will use the same language-matching strategy. This is intended to streamline processing in the event that the client has submitted documentation in a language other than English or the case requires a cold call.

  • Language matching will only be attempted when the case manager has at least one alternate language specified on the “User Setup” page

    • Note: TAO Directors and Assistant Directors will be able to access and update the User Setup Page and the TAO Staff Details Page of individual staff members, to allow entry of alternate languages (other than English) that a case manager is fluent in, and will use while assisting clients. The system will allow one or more additional languages to be entered in a new field called “Alternate languages”

  • Only Non-English language processing actions will be language-matched to a bilingual case manager
  • When the case manager clicks Get Action on the My Actions page, BEACON will search for actions in the Business Group selected by the case manager in priority order until a language match is found
  • If a language match is not found within a configurable number of records, the action will be returned to the highest priority action, regardless of language

SNAP Short Actions

The business group, SNAP Short Actions was created to target Actions that are expected to take less than 15 minutes to complete.

Whenever client contact occurs, you must:

  • confirm the client’s contact information (phone, address, and email address) and update it in BEACON as necessary and
  • ask whether there are any additional questions/concerns that you can help the client with before completing the contact

Steps for Requesting and Completing Actions

  1. from the home page, click the double arrow icon on the left-hand side of the page to open the My Office tab
  2. click My Actions to open the My Actions page
  3. click Get Action. You will be assigned one new action. The newly assigned Action will be listed in the Action list
  4. check the box next to the action to select it
  5. click the blue Action Details button above the Action list to open the Action Details popup page and view the Action details and Action status
  6. read the Action Group Steps and comments to determine what needs to be completed in the case
  7. close the Action Details box
  8. if the action was generated as a result of a scanned document, click the Scanned Document Preview icon to view the document. Viewing the document in this way allows you to view the document while working in BEACON 
  9. if the action was generated as a result of a web application, click the Web Application Data Sheet icon to view the web data. See Web Application Workflow
  10. click the green Begin button which will direct you to the Electronic Case Folder (ECF) or the appropriate action related page (e.g. IVR Request-Unvalidated Address popup page)
  11. follow through with the action's steps, completing the required page fields or BEACON workflows as appropriate
  12. when you have completed everything possible on the page or in the BEACON workflow, a VC-1, appointment letter or other forms have been sent to the client if appropriate, and/or the Interview Wrapup has been completed, click the red circle End button. The Action Details popup page will appear

    1. Note: If the action that you are trying to complete involves processing a scanned document, the document must be dispositioned before the action can be completed. See Dispositioning Scanned Documents.

  13. review the Action Group Steps, checking to see that you have completed all that you can in the case
  14. click the i icon next to the comments field to open the Action Notes popup page
  15. type a detailed narrative in the Action Notes screen
  16. click the Save icon. The Action Notes screen will close. The Copy to ECF narrative checkbox will be pre-checked. In order for the comment to transfer to the Narrative tab in the ECF, it must remain so

    1. Note: It is also possible to type directly in the Comments box without opening the Action Notes popup page. However, spellcheck, print and other word processing tools are only available through the Action Notes popup page.

  17. the Action Status will populate as:
    1. completed if the assigned action has been completed (brought to an exitable Action group Step); or
    2. dismissed if the action was not completed. Actions should only be dismissed if they cannot be completed or brought to an exitable step. Dismissed actions require that a Dismissal Reason be selected from the drop-down list as outlined in Dismissing an Action.
  18. click the Save button
  19. click the Outstanding button. The Outstanding Actions popup page will open and outstanding actions associated with the case will appear in the Action list. Select any outstanding actions by checking the box next to them and clicking Assign. Outstanding actions that have been self-assigned will appear in your Action list on the My Actions page
  20. When there are no outstanding Actions listed, close the Outstanding Actions page
  21. close the Action Details page
  22. if you authorize an EBC Request you must determine whether or not the case meets the criteria for priority supervisory review using the criteria described in the Duty Supervisors section of Supervisory Review Actions. If it does, you must:
    1. write a detailed narrative that describes any action taken on the case and the reason that priority supervisory review is being requested; and
    2. alert the duty supervisor that there is a case requiring their attention by sending them an email that includes:
      1. the grantee’s name
      2. the grantee’s Agency Identification Number and
      3. justification for the priority supervisory review

Completing SNAP Actions

Whenever you generate a Request for Assistance (RFA) or initiate a Recertification, if there are household members who report or are believed to have Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (RSDI) income, you must:

When completing any Action that requires client contact, always review the application (if applicable) and BEACON history to determine whether- or-not the client has expressed a language preference. If you know that an interpreter is needed, arrange for one. If you learn the client’s preferred language is not English or that they have Limited English Proficiency (LEP) during an interaction with the client, offer interpretation services as soon as you become aware of the LEP. The use of an interpreter or the declination of one by the client must always be detailed on the Narrative. See Using an Interpreter and the Interpreter Services book in the Cross Programs section of this guide.

When assigned the Action type Perform Cold Call/Schedule Appointment, you must:

  • determine whether an interview is required
  • update the Interview Not Held reason appropriately if an interview is not required
  • attempt to reach the client via cold call if appropriate. See Conducting Cold Calls
  • if appropriate, conduct the interview and indicate that this has occurred by updating the Interview page in BEACON, and
  • schedule an interview and mail an Appointment letter to the client if appropriate.

See Scheduling/Canceling Appointments.

When a scheduled interview is conducted the Interview page in BEACON must be updated by:

  • selecting the Yes radio button in the Held field
  • selecting Telephone Interview from the drop down list in the Method field, and
  • entering the date on which the interview was conducted in the Interview field

Note: A warning pop-up will display on the Assessed Person page when the selected client language is “Other”, and the free-form other language value exactly matches one of the known languages in BEACON.

When a SNAP client misses an appointment, the Interview page does not need to be updated. A NOMI will automatically be generated overnight on the day of a scheduled interview if the Interview page has not been updated to reflect that the scheduled in–person interview was conducted.

If an interview is conducted earlier than scheduled, you must cancel the scheduled interview to prevent an unnecessary Action in the future.

See Scheduling/Canceling Appointments.

To ensure that an applicant has access to benefits as quickly as possible, when conducting an application interview, always determine whether or not the applicant needs an EBT card. If the applicant does not have an EBT card, issue one as soon as identity has been verified. See the EBT chapter in the Cross Programs section of this guide for policy and procedural information about the issuance of EBT cards.

When an interview is required, a Verification Checklist (VC-1) must not be issued until after the interview has been conducted. See SNAP Verifications Overview.

If you attempt to complete an Action for a case with a pending expedited SNAP application for which an interview has been conducted and Identity has been marked as verified on the Verification tab, if there is no Interview Wrapup Request with a status of Pending Release, the following message will appear:

“Please authorize an EBC interview Wrapup request for the pending Expedited FS AU.”

If you authorize an EBC Request and the request is for:

  • a pending SNAP application on day 30
  • a reinstated case on day 60 or
  • an active case with a completed recertification that has been submitted on the BEACON release date

the following message will appear:

“The EBC Request needs to be authorized today. Please contact a supervisor to approve the Interview Wrap-up request.”

However, the above scenarios are not the only situations in which a wrapped case must be referred for rushed review, so always determine whether or not a wrapped case meets the criteria for priority supervisory review and refer the case to the Duty Supervisor if appropriate. See the Duty Supervisors section of Supervisory Review Actions for a description of when to refer wrapped cases for priority supervisory review.

If you attempt to complete an Action type Process Scanned Recertification/Process Scanned Application without first marking the scanned document as:

  • Reviewed and Entered, or
  • Reviewed Duplicate, or
  • Reviewed not Relevant, or
  • Not entered due to case status, or
  • Unreadable, or
  • Unsigned, or
  • Incomplete, or
  • Incomplete & unsigned

the following message will appear:

“This Action cannot be completed when the associated Scanned document status is Pending review/Pending agency review. Please change the disposition of the scanned document.” See Dispositioning Scanned Documents.

All submitted paperwork must be reviewed for timeliness, completeness and required signatures before it is processed. See Document Indexing and Dispositioning. 

Regardless of the Action type assigned, always check the Scanned Document History for Scanned Documents with a status of Pending review, Reviewed duplicate or Reviewed pending interview before completing the assigned Action. It is possible that previously submitted, un-entered verification can be used in conjunction with recently submitted document(s) to process the case.

When verification is received, it is crucial that you enter the correct received date for that item on the Verification Tab in BEACON. An incorrectly entered date of receipt may result in the inappropriate proration of benefits. See Proration of SNAP Benefits at Application and Proration of SNAP Benefits at Recertification

When clients report that they have submitted documents to DTA that have not been processed, you must seek out and address the documents. See Missing Documents.

You must offer voter registration assistance to clients whenever they report a residential address change and at all interviews. Clients must be given a preassembled Voter Registration packet and be offered assistance with the completion of the forms at all in-person covered transactions. In-person covered transactions are applications, reevaluations and recertifications, as well as changes of address.

The Important Information About Voter Registration notice and the Declination Form are automatically mailed to applicants/clients with SNAP Recertifications, Cash Reevaluation and SNAP Web Application Appointment Letters, and when in-state residential address changes are made on active cases.

It is important that the BEACON workflow pages always reflect the most recently provided information. You must update all BEACON workflow pages as new information becomes available, enter verifications as they are received, update the Verification tab to show only items that have not been verified as outstanding, and make sure that the Interview page always reflects whether or not an interview is required and/or has been conducted.

The combination of case information not being updated in a timely manner and BEACON automated functionality could result in unnecessary notification, incorrect denial, inaccurate benefits and the duplication of work.

Last Update:  May 17, 2021